Two referees from the COSAFA region have been praised for their intollerence of match-fixing in the game after rejecting approaches from devious individuals trying to manipulate CAF club competition matches.

It was widely reported earlier this month that South African referee Victor Gomes had reported an approach ahead of a CAF Confederation Cup first leg tie between Nigerian side Plateau United and USM Alger of Algeria.

CAF are investigating the circumstances around that approach and what action, if any, will be taken.

And it was revealed this week too that Zimbabwean match official Norman Matemera had also rejected a brobe, reportedly of US$10,000 to influence the result of the Confederation Cup play-off tie between Equatorial Guinea outfit Desportivo Niefang and Ivorian side Williamsville AC.

Matemera immediately reported the approach to CAF and has been praised for his action by ZIFA Referees Committee vice-chairman, Gladmore Muzambi.

“We are saying to our international referees, and indeed the local ones, we must always uphold the integrity tenets which entails recognising, resisting and reporting any attempts of match manipulation,” Muzambi told The Herald newspaper.

“You must recognise that there are attempts to fix a match, you must resist those attempts and you must report those attempts. In this regard we feel proud that our referees did just that.”

The COSAFA region has a number of top referees on the FIFA panel, incuding Janny Sikazwe, who is scheduled to blow his whistle at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.